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One cold winter night when the tempest was stormy,
The snow like a sheet covered cabin and side;
When Barney flew over the hills to his darling,
And rapped at the window where Katie did lie.
"Adieu, all," said he, "are you asleep or awaking?
It's a bitter cold night and my coat it is thin;
The storm it's a brewing, the frost it's a making,
And Kathleen Mavarney won't you let me in?"
"Barney," said Kate, as she spoke through the window,
"How can you be taking us out of our bed?
To come at this time it's a shame and a sin, too,
The wind it has got into your head.
"If your heart it was true, of my fame you'd be tender,
Consider the time when there's nobody in;
What have a poor girl but her name to defend her?
No, Barney, my Barney, I won't let you in."
"I believe," said he, "sure your eyes is a fountain,
'Twould weep for the love I might lie at your door;
And your name is so white as the snow on the mountain,
And Barney will die to preserve it as pure."
"I'll go to my home where the winter can't face me,
I'll whistle.... I'll not be within;
And the words of my Katie will comfort and cheer me,
No, Barney, my Barney, I won't let you in."
Collected by MacEdward Leach and published as #26 in Folk Ballads And Songs Of The Lower Labrador Coast, p.88, by the National Museum Of Canada (Ottawa, 1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved. A variant was also sung by Pat Sullivan (1880-2003) of Calvert, NL, and published as Barney in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
